BEFORE THE BELL: Congressional hearings set to begin into FAA oversight of Boeing

America’s standing as the model for aviation-safety regulation will be on trial in Washington as congressional hearings begin into the Federal Aviation Administration’s oversight of Boeing before and after two deadly crashes of its bestselling airliner.

The Senate aviation subcommittee will hear testimony Wednesday from the acting head of the FAA, and the Transportation Department inspector general Calvin Scovel who is leading a review of the FAA and Boeing.

Scovel is expected to reveal plans to significantly revamp the FAA’s oversight of airplane construction this summer.

Acting FAA Administrator Daniel Elwell will testify that Boeing submitted an application in January spelling out planned changes to crucial flight-control software on the 737 Max, the same system suspected of playing a role in October’s crash of a Lion Air jet in Indonesia and the March 10th plunge of an Ethiopian Airlines Max.

The crashes killed 346 people, including 18 Canadians in the Ethiopia disaster.

On the markets,

The TSX added 89 points to end a two day losing streak on Tuesday.

Crude climbed $1.23 to $59.94 a barrel.

As markets rose, gold reversed course by losing $7.60 to $1,315, while the Canadian dollar edged 12/100ths of a cent higher to .07473 cents U.S.